Bryson DeChambeau has been told that he is completely overlooking one important fact as he tries to secure as much leverage as possible when it comes to his future.
There is a huge question mark hanging over where DeChambeau will be playing his golf next year.
His contract with LIV Golf expires at the end of the season. And of course, it is not yet clear how LIV is going to be funded once the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia walk away at the end of the year.
DeChambeau has said he could yet stay with LIV. But it is fair to say that the 32-year-old has also made sure to not shut the door on the idea of returning to the PGA Tour.
What Bryson DeChambeau is forgetting as he speaks about a PGA Tour return
He has, however, made it clear that he does not believe that he should receive severe penalties for joining LIV should he return to his former tour. DeChambeau insisted that he would bring more than enough to the PGA Tour to make it worthwhile. He also claimed the tour is not doing well.
It seems that many would disagree. It has been suggested that the PGA Tour players do not want DeChambeau to return.
Meanwhile, speaking on McGinley and Chamblee at the PGA Championship, Eamon Lynch pointed out that DeChambeau can hardly think he is in a strong position when his presence on LIV has not prevented the league’s momentum from completely stalling.
“The players still remember and recognise the one thing that Bryson conveniently overlooks, which is no one followed him to LIV, the audience never went there. So if he imagines himself to be a pied piper of some kind, there isn’t actually any evidence of that, outside of YouTube,” he said.
“Bryson may find himself given a term sheet like Brooks Koepka was, saying here are the conditions for coming back, and here’s your charitable dollars, and here’s where you can play and can’t play. Bryson needs to grasp the fact that what really matters is not what’s going to be written on that document, but the things that they will not put in print. And those are two things: context and contrition.
“Brian Rolapp has context here. He’s going to lose giant swathes of the locker room with the changes that are going to be made to the PGA Tour and he’s going to struggle uphill for the next couple of years to get everything done that he wants to do. He’s not going to go out on a limb for Bryson DeChambeau if Bryson’s not going to help him.
“And in terms of the contrition, I think the players on the PGA Tour don’t want to see the LIV guys go flagellate themselves in public, but they want some kind of acknowledgement that you done screwed up here along the way, and they’re not getting it out of Bryson DeChambeau.
“Koepka and Reed played that game really well. But Bryson’s acting as though he would be doing them a favour by coming back, that ‘you need me more than I need you. Send me a plane and throw me a ticker tape parade’, and that’s just not happening for Bryson DeChambeau.”
The PGA Tour are in a much stronger position despite Bryson DeChambeau’s claims
It would be naive to think that DeChambeau would not be a marquee addition to the PGA Tour.
It is easy to forget just how popular he was when he won his second US Open title at Pinehurst. And it was particularly significant just how much support he got given that it was Rory McIlroy who saw the trophy snatched from his grasp.
There would also be plenty who would quite like to portray DeChambeau as a villain. Seeing how that dynamic would play out could be fascinating, if his peers were against the idea of him coming back in the first place.
The PGA Tour has plenty of options to ensure that DeChambeau’s return is beneficial to them. And it really does appear that those at Ponte Vedra hold the majority of the cards – despite what he may claim.
